"I thought (Jacob) Noble was fantastic," head coach Mark Calvi said. "I was most impressed with the fact that he did not issue any walks. Hit by pitches and walks have hurt him, but he didn't shoot himself in the foot today. He was really efficient and threw strikes. His fastball was good, his breaking ball was sharp and he just had a good rhythm in the game. And the bullpen was great again. It was a fantastic effort on the mound today, especially by Noble."

Noble (4-1) struck out five without issuing a walk to earn his fourth win of the season, and first in a Sun Belt Conference contest.

South Alabama (27-10, 10-5 SBC) gave Noble early run-support, building a three-run advantage through the first two-and-a-half innings.

"It (early run support) makes you settle in and get comfortable," Noble said. "You really just want to go out there and throw strikes and get the guys back in there as quick as possible. I just wanted to go out there and throw like I have in the past, and just give our guys the best chance to win."

Nick Zaharion put the Jaguars on the board in the top of the first with a two-out RBI single to center field to score Whitt Dorsey, who led off the game with a single back up the middle.

USA doubled its lead to 2-0 in the top of the second on an RBI double to right field by Hayden Jones.

ASU (19-17, 6-9 SBC) cut the Jag lead in half in the bottom of the second on a passed ball, but USA answered with two runs in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly to center field by Zaharion and an RBI groundout off the bat of Nolan Earley to take a 4-1 lead.

"We had some good at-bats today," Calvi said. "Guys willing to sacrifice and give themselves up for the betterment of the team, and that's what we're going to have to do because it doesn't get any easier from here. Guys don't need to worry about individual accolades, just worry about wins and the team and that's what this group has done for the most part. That's what they did this weekend, and we had good results."

Brandon Boyle, James Traylor and Dylan Stamey combined to record one out apiece in the bottom of the eighth, before left-hander Kyle Bartsch entered in the ninth and recorded his eighth save of the season with a pair of strikeouts.

Bartsch tied former Jaguar Blaine Dollar for the career record in saves at South Alabama, earning the 18th of his career in Sunday's contest.

Jones went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI to lead the Jags at the plate. Zaharion had one hit and two RBI, and Earley finished with a hit and one RBI.

ASU starter Bradley Wallace (3-2) suffered the loss in six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

South Alabama will return to action Tuesday, when it travels to Tallahassee, Fla., for a midweek matchup with Florida State.